Like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates before them, these highly successful entrepreneurs either dropped out of college or never enrolled in the first place, once again raising questions about the value of a higher education.

“If you want to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer [and] go into a traditional profession, [college] makes a lot of sense,” Ellsberg says. “But for people who have no idea…$50,000 a year is an expensive way to figure out what you want to do with your life.”

In the accompanying video below, the author and Forbes blogger discusses the common traits and the 7 Core Success Skills he gleaned from these titans of industry:

Learn How to Sell

Learn Marketing

The “Right” Way to Network with Big Wigs

Define Your Vision

Invest in Yourself

Build the Brand of “You”

Take an Entrepreneurial Mindset

“These are the real world skills we don’t learn in college,” Ellsberg says, stressing, as the subtitle of his book indicates, “it’s not too late” to learn these lessons, even if you did go to college.